The Kronikles of Tony and Ruth
Day 15 - Friday 14 July 2006
All of us are up at sparrows fart this morning. All the Byrnes are leaving early this morning, as must we because the burglar alarms need to be set. The 8.02 train to Central is taken then the 8.34 AM to the airport. A Japanese lady meeting a JAL flight misses the International terminal and is confused arriving at the Domestic. No one knows the language, but by signs and funny noises a group of us pop her back on the returning train stopping at the International. Heartening to see some goodwill and assistance.
After the latte fix we board at 10.45, take off (of course), have a beer, finish the Courier x-word, have a nap and land in Townsville at 12.45PM. Every time I board a flight I marvel at aircraft. I am always reminded of a passage in the Saul Bellow work “Humboldt’s Gift”:
“The machine in every square inch of metal was a result of collaboration of engineers and other artificers. A system built upon the discoveries of many great minds was always of more strength than what is produced by the mere workings of one mind, which of itself can do little.”
For some reason this thought reassures me. Of what? I don’t know.
Leaving the terminal we spy Brad (see Appendix 9) in his huge SSANSYONG/ STAVIC seven seater luxury van. Brad takes us for a tour of Townsville, we have lunch, then climb to the top of Castle Hill for panoramic views of the city. The weather is overcast, warm and windy.
At the Clarke’s place informality is the keynote and I take a powernap (must be getting pretty powerful by now), wake up to some bourbon and coke and play with the two lively poodles PJ and Casey.
Brad’s wife Darlene, daughter Laura and are down on the Sunshine Coast celebrating Darlene’s mother’s birthday. Son Nicholas is home with dad due to footy commitments.
Brad stirs up a pungent Asian dish that we enjoy with bottles of Chardonnay. Good cook is Brad. More gigantic plasma TV viewing and the three of us retire at 10 PM pleasantly tired.
APPENDIX
The Clarkes – Brad, Darlene, Nicholas and Laura. Brad is a Civil Engineer. We met when he joined my Construction Dept. at the Municipality of South Barwon. As Brad rocketed into engineering stardom Ruth and I kept in touch with him and Darlene. Brad chucked in his high position with Barwon Water to open up “The Lakes” Holiday Park in Townsville together with Darlene, her sister and the sister’s husband. After a very successful couple of years they sold out at a handsome profit and are having a year of navel gazing and introspection.
